Gilbert Stroud Merritt, Jr., the longest-serving member of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals died on Monday, January 17. He was 86.

“Judge Merritt was a cherished friend of my entire family,” former Vice President Al Gore told The Tennessean. “A deeply intelligent and deliberative legal thinker, he was an ardent defender of the liberties that form the foundation of our Constitution…I am holding his family in my thoughts and prayers.”

He sat of the bench for 44 years. He earlier served as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1966-1969 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University and a bachelor of law from Vanderbilt University Law School. He is survived by three children and three grandchildren.

On June, 26, 2019, NAFUSA former president Hal Hardin interviewed Judge Merritt as part of the oral history project of the Nashville Bar Association.

As is our custom, NAFUSA has requested that an American flag be flown over Main Justice and it will be presented Judge Merritt’s family.

NAFUSA lifetime member James Burns Tucker, 82, died on December 28, 2021 following a lengthy battle with illness. James was born in Georgia on September 25, 1939.

He earned a B.A. in English from Millsaps College and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

His professional accomplishments were many and included 30 years of service in the U.S. Attorney’s office, Southern District of Mississippi (Chief of the Criminal Division and Interim U.S. Attorney) and 20 years of practicing law with Butler, Snow in Ridgeland, MS. He also served 30 years in the Naval Reserve in the Judge Advocate General’s office and retired with the rank of Captain. He also taught Trial Practice at the Mississippi College School of Law for 25 years with his friend and colleague Judge Kent McDaniel.

Among the many professional honors bestowed on Tucker’s are America’s Top 100 Attorney’s Lifetime Achievement Award and his 2016 induction into the Ole Miss Law Alumni Hall of Fame; membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers; and membership in The American Board of Trial Advocates.

Tucker is survived by his wife, Jeanne; their daughter Lisa Rainey Fletcher (Fred); their son Charles Edward Rainey, Sr. (Meredith); 10 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, January 2, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church of Jackson, Mississippi

NAFUSA lifetime member Thomas O’Brien, partner at Browne George Ross O’Brien Annaguey & Ellis LLP secured a major victory last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, successfully clearing Dr. Mirali Zarrabi on all 33 felony counts regarding a $355 million insurance fraud scheme on the 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgery business. O’Brien was lead counsel and his trial team included former Assistant U.S. Attorneys from his days as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (2007-2009).

Dr. Zarrabi, a pulmonologist, was the sole defendant acquitted of all charges in what appears to be the lengthiest federal trial conducted nationwide during the pandemic, spanning close to three months.

“The complexity of the matter and length of the trial were significant challenges, but our client, Dr. Zarrabi, is extremely pleased with the outcome and so are we,” said O’Brien. “It’s not often a defendant with so many charges is acquitted on all of them, but the jury did its job and reviewed the evidence properly.”

Federal prosecutors argued at trial that the 1-800-GET-THIN network had fraudulently submitted roughly $355 million in insurance claims for coverage of Lap-Band surgeries, a type of weight loss surgery. According to prosecutors, GET THIN scheduled patients for medically unnecessary sleep studies and then falsified the results to show that the patients had obstructive sleep apnea, often a trigger for insurance coverage of Lap-Band surgery. Dr. Zarrabi, an independent contractor of GET THIN, was accused of failing to review the falsified sleep study results, but the BGR team successfully demonstrated to the jury that the government’s chief cooperating witness, Charles Klasky, falsified the results after Dr. Zarrabi had performed his sleep study reviews.

NAFUSA member Joe Whitley joins his partner, Luke Cass, to discuss enforcement trends in corporate crime on the Womble Bond Dickinson “In-house Roundhouse” podcast. They discuss how white-collar enforcement priorities change when there is a new administration and how in 2021 the Biden Administration is implementing its own set of compliance priorities and enforcement emphasis.

Whitley and Cass find three takeaways from the discussion:

• In recent remarks, top DOJ officials stated that DOJ will “surge resources” and “redouble efforts” for corporate enforcement.
• Areas of particular concern include Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, government contracting fraud, financial fraud, tax issues, and energy pricing benchmark manipulation.
• Strong compliance programs must be top-down, with C-Suite executives enforcing the importance of compliance. Should problems occur, the first call should always be to legal counsel.

Click here to read “Biden Administration Prioritizes Corporate Criminal Enforcement.

NAFUSA member Peter Vaira has published an article in The Legal Intelligencer entitled “Leadership as a Law School Class: Understanding What It Is and What It Is Not.” Vaira describes how “Duquesne University Law School now offers a full school year class in leadership. There is no particular law subject involved, just the concept of leader

Vaira is a member of Greenblatt, Pierce, Funt & Flores. He served as the United States Attorney for the ED of Pennsylvania 1978-1983.

Click here to read the article:

VAIRA Legal Intelligencer (11.08.21) Leadership as a Law School Class … Understanding What It Is and What It Is Not